Ho-tel! Ho-tel! (sung to the tune of New York, New York)

So you have some options set up for where you will want to stay, now is the fun part of choosing a hotel!  It can seem like a daunting task (and a huge cost) but hopefully these tips can help you pick a great place to stay within a budget that will make you more excited for your trip rather than scared of the price.

There are countless hotel-searching websites out there:  Kayak, Priceline, Orbitz, and the ilk.  Remember if you do use these sites, turn on private browsing on your computer.  Because you are more likely to book when you visit more than once, they will track that and change the prices accordingly. These sites can have some really good deals, but mostly those deals will depend on your schedule flexibility and your taste (it may be the cheapest around, but you may not want to be in a crappy motel).

"Hey, the latest reviewer said he only found
two roaches during his last stay!  That's a
plus...right?"

If you are a super last-minute planner, you can always check out Hotel Tonight.  It's an iOS and Android app that posts hotel rooms that are available for that evening at a deep discount.

If you have a desire for the more upscale and boutique, I can't recommend Jetsetter enough.  They offer limited time deals on specific properties all around the world at some really steep discounts (called their Flash Sales).  They hand pick all of the luxurious hotels that they feature.  Using Jetsetter can be a good springboard to find smaller, fancy hotels even if you are a good little planner and getting your plans set before the 4-month mark (which is unfortunately as early as you can book for their Flash Sales).

Tablet is another fantastic site with limited-time deals all around the world.  They also back all of their pricing with a best rate guarantee.  Tablet has a wider range of hotels (listing both most afforable and top rated) but a smaller number of private sale deals.

Sometimes, the best known deals can be found at the source.  If you have your eye on a couple hotels, make sure you sign up to be on their mailing list and send them an email and see if they have any special offers.  It never hurts to ask and it is always good to stay well-informed.

With the myriad of possibilities when choosing a hotel, do your homework and make sure you are getting a great price.  It is a sad vacation when you can't see past the dollar signs and just relax and enjoy yourself.

Next post:  Airfare.

Photo credit: Great Beyond / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

Revived!

I'm taking another holiday with my fiancé (who will be my husband by that time) because we are going on our honeymoon!  Same deal as last time, I'm going to put up all kinds of planning tips that I've come across and give some updates (they may be minimal ;-) during the trip!

Let's just get down to it, shall we?

First item of business:  where are we going?

We are heading to Napa Valley for a week of wining and dining.  During a recent visit with a very good friend, we took a day trip to Napa and just fell in love.  We stayed here:

We tasted these superb wines:

And we ate an amazing dinner here:

It was all spectacular.  I mean, how could it not be when you get to lounge in a tub like this?

Seriously.  Look. At. That. Tub.

And so from that day trip, we were hooked and we knew that despite it being one of the most popular honeymoon destinations, we would be booking ourselves another trip this year.  We want to do some winery tours (including Lasseter Family Winery in hopes of a John Lasseter sighting), relax in some spas (The Meritage looks promising) and eat some amazing food (oh yeah, The French Laundry, one of the highest rated restaurants IN THE WORLD).

So I'm a little...okay, very excited for our trip and I hope I can give some help to anyone else planning on visiting this oasis of the west coast.